Battle Royale S1R1: Skullene vs Ray
by Familiar47
Summary: Skullene begins her time on Planet Doom by going up against the Defective Irken Soldier Ray. Neither offersescape, neither offers mercy, and neither intends to die in the Forests of Doom. Two or Three Chapter story. Now Completed.
1. Chapter 1

Battle Royale Season 1 Round 1 (S1R1): Skullene Vs Ray

Xxx

Part 1

Beautiful, that was the first word she would have used to describe it after removing her visor. The forest of Planet Doom looked like a landscape masterpiece from where she was perched in one of the highest trees. It was a specimen of Aenora, a planet she had frequented in her time after being banished, so the tree was hundreds of feet tall to accommodate the Aenorans, who were natural tree climbers and deadly hunters. Luckily her Invader Training had allowed her to disguise herself and participate in several brief training scenarios with Aenorans who had grown their incredibly sharp claws that allowed them to climb.

The training might just save her life if she used it correctly. She took several more moments to admire how the sun illuminated the land before her and then reactivated the implant built into the side of her head. The blue Virken Tactical Visor, the HUD displaying results of scans that her PAK made of the surrounding environment. It would help her to avoid any rather malicious species-and knowing Red and Purple, they put EVERYTHING that could be labelled dangerous down here.

"Alright, let's take a pretty look," She whispered, activating the Optical Mode, enhancing the sight of her Visor and scanning the land below her. "Where are you..."

_Snap._

The branch shifted. Skullene blinked and glanced at the trunk of the tree. She sighed. "Aw fu-"

_SNAP!_

"AH!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!_" _Skullene screeched, plummeting towards the ground below. "AW CRAP!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!"

She was falling too fast, too heavy from her armour, she had to slow down or she'd be dead before the tournament even began! Seizing the initiative, Skullene swung her right hand out and activated her gauntlet. A pair of curved, powerful blades made of a Grade 38 Beta-Phase Titanium Alloy popped out of her right gauntlet.

Praying that her idea worked and did not result in the loss of her Wrist Blades, she carved into the trunk of the Aenoran Tree she had fallen from. Her arm was nearly ripped from its socket as the force of her fall coupled with the friction from her blades snapped the limb in an upward direction. The rest of her body was slammed into the trunk of the tree, bruising the side of her head.

Though feeling sore and a little winded, her plan had worked, she had stopped her fall with barely ten feet to spare. Sighing in relief, she released the tree and landed on her feet. Feeling the side of her head, her hand came away with Irken blood on it.

"Stupid cheap copy," She glared at the 'Aenoran' Tree. "Aenoran trees don't shatter that easily! Red you mother florper I'll get you for this! Testiay Metes! (Test-Ee-ay May-tee)!" (I swear on my life!) She swore in Veniran.

Cursing repeatedly, she marched on through the forest of Planet Doom-a rather fitting name if you had the IQ of that stupid cheap false Aenoran tree that the Tallests' workers had chosen in place of a REAL ONE that doesn't break and nearly kill competitors! Continuing to use scans from her PAK to navigate away from some more dangerous plants and animals-including the large Custogan beast which was like a cross of a rhino, a lizard, an ox, and a dog, she found herself walking a mostly uneventful path, just the way she wanted it to be for now.

'Okay Skulls, recap,' She began to think to herself. 'Your opponent is...' She opened her Index, which she had attached to her right gauntlet, well away from her extendable Titanium Blades. 'Ray, a Defective-like yours truly.' She examined the rest of the data. 'This guy is packing some heat, an assault rifle I've never even used before, a knife that can stun or melt things? Man, where was all of this gear when I was conquering worlds with second hand equipment?'

She continued to scroll down. "Silver Sentinel...Defective Fleet...I heard of those before." The Sentinel was supposedly the leader of the infamous collection of Irken Defectives that had been posing a problem for Red and Purple many times. During her exile one had approached her with an offer to join the Defectives, but she had kindly refused him-and only kindly because he was against the empire like she was.

"Well damn," She shut her Index off after examining the information several times. "Here I thought I got the sharp end of the stick while in the Armada." She pulled out her Vortian 'Pocket Pistol' and pulled back the slide. The energy cell within was built for continued use against enemy infantry, and made up for power with accuracy. After confirming the pistol was not overheated, she holstered it in favour of her full sized Irken Direct Energy Weapon. It had all of the accuracy of the Vortian Pistol and twice as much power, but had shorter heat containment, so it had to frequently vent after a dozen shots or so, or she could manually vent it on her own.

Wishing she had thought to buy a rifle or something bigger to use before coming, she holstered the Irken pistol and examined the spare Power Cells she had in her belt. Each one for the Irken Blaster looked like a purple cylinder with the Irken Insignia on it, while the Vortian Energy Cells looked like small cylinders that slid into the pistol's handle. At some point the Energy Cells would burn out and need to be replaced, but until that point she was ready and deadly. She also had the Veniran Push Knives, which were designed to both stab and rip by making a pick shaped edge on one side of the blade.

When Skullene managed to get her push knives under somebody's skin, she could pull and allow the Pick Blade on her knives to split her opponents open, causing more pain and damage. They were also good for hooking onto bones with, or gouging out eyes...if the eye didn't get cut in half on the way out by the blade. A rather gruesome method, but the Veniran Empire's Elite Assassins had used it to great effect before, during, and even after the fall of their Empire. A single Veniran Assassin would eliminate entire platoons, while several would eliminate hundreds of Irken Grunts.

Taking over Venira had been the highlight of her career as an Invader, it left her infamous to any enemy of the empire, so this Ray person might not take too kindly to her-

Her Visor suddenly flared red, a targeting reticule focusing in on a brief glimpse of pink among the red. A heat signature! Movement! Skullene whipped out her Vortian Pistol and dove into the bushes, following the heat source. Using her wrist blades to cut away several branches, she came out onto a clear path in the middle of the dense foliage. A large black and red scaled avian creature examined her from the top of a tree, beady eyes blinking as it followed the Irken's movements.

"Where are you...?" She whispered.

"Right here, Invader Skullene."

_Click._

The tip of a gun rested against the back of her head.

Sucking in a breath, Skullene slowly retracted her wrist blades into her gauntlet. "_Former_ Invader Skullene would be the correct TERM!" She shouted the last word as she spun and knocked the barrel of the rifle away. Confronted by the well built, battle scarred, green eyed Irken before her; she snapped her pistol up as he brought his plasma pistol to her chin. They used their free hand to push their opponent's gun arm and held it away from themselves. Both of their guns were stuck pointing at the sky.

The Irken Defective known was Ray was the exact same height as Skullene down to the last inch, but his antennae ended in three 'scythes', and didn't hang down like hers did. He wore grey and black armour and clothing. Skullene didn't need her visor to confirm he was dangerous by flashing the following over her left eye:

**WARNING, A LEVEL 10 THREAT HAS BEEN DETECTED.**

Well thank you very much Captain Obvious.

In the struggle, Ray managed to tug her weapon free, and tried to bear both pistols down on her, but she grasped the ends of his antennae, and they crumpled in her hands. Ray yelped in pain, a ringing in his ears as Skullene planted her left foot and spun on it, swinging her right foot up in a perfectly executed reverse roundhouse kick that he barely dodged, clipping him in the side of the face and spinning him around.

Prepared for the next attack, he tossed Skullene's pistol up into the air and tried to go for his knife, but Skullene was already on the attack. With her right side to him, she swung her arms to her left and brought them down, going low and then came back up, bending her upper body down towards the ground and bringing her right leg up. She jumped from her left leg, twisting, and slammed her heel into Ray's right shoulder. He dropped his pistol as Skullene landed, finishing the Butterfly kick. She was half crouched, her right leg outstretched, her right arm sticking out to her side while her left one was against her chest, gripping the handle of one of the push knives safely stored in air tight sheathes on her two bandoleers.

"Quite the acrobat, aren't you?" He asked, rubbing his shoulder.

"I try my best," Skullene stood up and then leaned back, arching her entire body back and planting her hands on the ground. She back flipped out of range, scooping up her pistol as she went. Ray snatched up his own gun and rushed forward.

By the time Skullene came back up, Ray fired. The first shot went between her antennae; the second scorched her shoulder armour, the third went high as Skullene shot him, hitting his armour, which absorbed the first hit. Two more quick shots staggered him as he tried to fire again, missing his target once more.

The next second, they both grasped each other by the gun wrists and forced their opponent's weapons away from themselves once more. They were right back to square one.

"Didn't they teach you not to hold your gun so close to your target?" Skullene smirked.

"Don't try to be smart with me Skullene, I have little time and patience for it." Ray's tone showed that he was being truthful, he would not put up with any crap from her.

Skullene lurched to the left, and Ray matched her movements as they grappled for control of both guns. Ray managed to tug her blaster away and tossed it over his shoulder, but Skullene slammed the heel of her left hand into his chin, snapping his head back and allowing her to grip his arm and spin, tossing him over her shoulder and resulting in him hitting the tree next to them. He slid down as Skullene leaped away, rolled as she landed, and came up with her Blaster in hand, firing at Ray.

The Defective Soldier had seen her tactic, and managed to get behind the tree while ignoring the aching that came from being slammed into a tree and falling upside down. He grabbed his Micro TIAR assault rifle and pressed himself up against the bark as the thick tree took three laser bolts for him. He moved from cover and fired a single burst. One bullet glanced off the armoured plating of Skullene's right arm; another flew between her right arm and upper body. The third however ripped through her left side, just above her waist and off of her Squeedlyspooch.

Letting out a gasp of pain, Skullene fired her blaster again, backing away from her opponent. Two blaster bolts managed to hit him, one being absorbed by his armour, but the other managing to pierce through his left bicep. Cursing, he rolled back behind the tree and fired two blind bursts, but Skullene was no doubt long gone to nurse her wound. He had managed to hurt her with that one shot, the plasma coated round had torn through her side like wet paper.

He looked down at the assault rifle. "Well, looks like I need to tip the Quartermaster when I get back, he was right about this gun." Standing up, he examined his wounded arm. It was not bad, even cauterized, but it made holding the rifle more painful than it ought to be.

When he had gone over Skullene's profile on his Index, he had been surprised that a Career Invader would try to murder her own leaders, especially after conquering not one, but several planets for them. On one hand she had probably murdered countless beings, but on the other hand she did not seem too excited to return to Red and Purple, and was a Defective like himself. No matter how he cut it, she was his enemy as of now and had to die.

All that he had to do was locate her, and then put another bullet or two in her. After that and two more rounds and he could head home to his people...with the blood of both enemy and mutual comrade on his hands.

Xxx

"Damn, barely ten minutes into the fight and he's ripping her apart," Envon wiped his sleeve across his forehead. "That wound looked bad."

"Calm yourself brother," Hellion, the second youngest of the Five cooed, placing a hand on his eldest brother's shoulder, an all knowing and slightly evil smirk on his face. "Sister does not die so easily, you should know that much."

"I know, but I still feel a little guilty for persuading her to sign up for this," Envon sat back down in his chair as the four occupants of the room monitored her progress.

"Kick his ass sis!" Paneece, the youngest of the five shouted, shaking her fist at the screen. "You had him until he pulled a cheap one with that fancy pants rifle of his!"

"You know, yelling at the TV does not usually affect the outcome of what it shows us." The fourth occupants of the room stepped into the light of the multiple screens that made up Paneece's living room.

This was no Irken, nor was it Skullene's fourth sibling; it was a Vortian. He stood tall and slender; his green eyes under a set of goggles and a grey coat with a cowl covered his lower face and everything below his neck. Shen Baron the Vortian Pirate and business partner of Skullene sought to calm the growing tension of Paneece and Envon. "The moment Skullene stepped into that forest, her fate has been placed within the most trustworthy of hands: her own. So trust your sister to succeed in keeping herself alive and prevailing over her opponent."

Shen's relation with Skullene's siblings, well only Envon and Grimrair was somewhat strained, seeing as they were devout loyalists while Paneece and Hellion had gone off the grid decades ago. Paneece even let the Vortian lounge at her house when he wasn't off raiding Armada ships. Grimrair looked the other way considering he was not too impressed with his own specie's empire and would gladly watch a worthy leader cause some trouble for it. Envon only refrained from arresting Shen on the grounds that he was one of the few people who made Skullene smile anymore. If anybody found out that Admiral Envon of the Irken Armada's 4th Main Combat Fleet was consorting with Defects and Pirates wanted on every Irken planet, he and Grimrair would be DOOMED.

"You seem awfully confident that Skullene will be victorious, Shen." Envon turned his chair around to face the Vortian. ""

"She is an extremely capable warrior, and an intelligent Irken," Shen somehow refrained from visibly reacting to the underlying accusation in Envon's voice. "I have the utmost confidence that she will win this tournament and use her victory to help bring down the empire once and for all!"

"...You just want her to live so you can get into her pants!" Hellion accused the Vortian Pirate.

"...That too," The Shameless Pirate admitted. "Can you blame me? I'd tap that."

"Ah, touché," Hellion nodded, ignoring the odd and somewhat disgusted looks he received.

Xxx

"PAK kissing, horn choking- GAH! FLORP!" Skullene cursed as she tried to treat the wound from her fight with Ray. She was injecting it with a serum to numb the pain first, and right now poking the wound made her feel worse than when that arrogant Almighty Shortest ZIM messed up her plan to kill Red and Purple!

Finally injecting herself, she searched her PAK for some of her medical supplies and examined the wound. It wasn't bleeding, but a large chunk of her side was missing entirely. She began to add medical gauze and tied it there. Her PAK ran a scan and found that she was beginning to regenerate at a slow rate, it would take several hours at the most, but with Ray scouring the woods for her she had little time.

Picking up her Vortian pistol, she pulled the slide back, and then tugged on it again.

_Click!_

_Hiiisssssss..._

The built up energy began to vent out of the pistol. After a moment, the slid snapped shut, and Skullene stood up, holstering the pistol. She extended her Wrist Blades and crept through the darkening bushes. The canopy of trees blocked out most of the sun light above her, all the better for her so her Visor could pin pont Ray while he blundered about in the dark-

_KSSSSSSHHHHHH!_

"DOMNIA QUOI! (Dome-knee-uh Koo-oy)" (Damn it!) Skullene shut the Visor off as its built in radio nearly deafened her with static. "What the hell was that?"

"That was the sound of your Personal Digital Combat Tactician Visor being hacked." Skullene's eyes widened and lurched to her left, dropping into a roll and avoiding the three bursts of plasma coated bullets Ray sent her way from his perch on a nearby branch. "For a legendary invader you're awfully slow!"

"For an Elite soldier you talk too much!" Skullene called back, hidden in the trees.

Ray hopped down to the ground, sweeping the clearing with his Micro TIAR. "I hate to do this to somebody like you Skullene, but this is a matter of life and death for my people."

"Do you mean the Defectives?" Skullene asked.

"As the Empire has chosen to name us that, yes that is correct," Ray tried to follow her voice. "You won't get far without your fancy visor to guide you, how about we just end this here?"

Suddenly he heard the rush of air and spun, bringing his rifle up, but Skullene's Veniran Push Knife cut into him with its side 'Pick Blade'. Ray's eyes snapped open as he felt his head being torn open. He screamed, and on reflex slammed his elbow into Skullene's midsection like a battering ram, causing her to cough and double over. Ray growled and grabbed Skullene by both of her antennae. "Nice try!"

He tugged her off her feet and pulled her face into his free hand-he had dropped his assault rifle when she cut his head open. Her head snapped back, and then Ray's fist came down on the side of her head, sending her to the ground. He pulled out his Kukri knife, and prepared a charge so he could stun her. "This wound is going to take days to regenerate; luckily I'll have all the time I need to recover after this." He plunged the knife down towards her...but she flipped onto her back, her hands grasping his wrist and her legs going up.

Her right foot's heel pressed against the back of his neck, and her left leg crossed over his arm and her right leg and locked his arm into place between both legs, outstretched and with her weight on it. She wrenched back, trying to pull the knife from his grasp. Ray clenched his teeth and managed to stand up, brought his arm up as much as he could, and slammed Skullene into the ground. But the ground was soft, and did little to loosen her grip.

After being slammed into the ground three more times, Skullene manoeuvred her right hand and managed to grip the thumb of Ray's hand. She pulled it back and with a _snap_ dislocated it. Ray groaned in pain as Skullene tore the knife from her grasp and released him, rolling backwards away from him with his own Kukri knife in hand.

"Clever," Ray's eyes narrowed as he gripped his thumb, and put it back in position. "Gah...bitch..."

"I've heard worse," Skullene spat some blood out of her mouth and wiped her chin with her forearm. "A whole lot worse than that, from people who I'm looking forward to seeing after this is over."

Ray put one hand on his head and felt the gaping wound. "What kind of knives are those?"

"Veniran," She knelt and picked up the knife she had dropped when he had struck her, showing the Pick Blade that extended from one edge of the blade. "Perfect for ripping you open."

"So the Index wasn't lying," Ray put his hand down. "Guess I shouldn't have gotten so cocky and-" He took three quick steps forward.

Skullene cut a shallow wound into his left cheek with her push knife, and tried to jam his Kukri knife down into his throat, but he caught her wrists and slammed her into a tree. She dropped the Kukri knife, but the T shaped Push Knife remained in her firm grasp. Slamming her knee into his chin, Skullene freed her wrists, gripped the sides of his head, and slammed her forehead into the area between his eyes. He cried out in pain and tumbled back, but Skullene gripped the open head wound and pulled him back, nearly ripping a large chunk of flesh out. She head butted him a second time.

She never noticed that Ray had managed to grab his Kukri knife.

ZZZZZZTTTTTTT!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!

Skullene jerked and spasmed as he jammed the knife into her mid section, her PAK systems going haywire from the electric shock. As she screamed, Ray spun and sent her flying across the clearing...and over a cliff. Her PAK in safety mode, Skullene was not aware of her fall, even when she hit the ground several dozen feet below.

Ray walked over to the edge, and looked down at his fallen opponent. "A worthy fighter, but I will not die here." He sat down and used the blade of his knife to see the head wound Skullene had given him in the blade's reflection. "Damn, I don't have time to let this heal; I'll have to cauterize it."

He stood and turned around, planning to find some wood so he could get a fire going. But then something occurred to him...shouldn't something be congratulating him on his victory? Skullene was dead...right?

Xxx

**Loading...**

**System Restoration in progress, please wait...**

**System Restoration completed, uploading current memories.**

**Reactivating**

Skullene's eyes slowly opened, and she looked at the sky. Her body was in pan, ALOT of pain, there was no way to deny that. She groaned, rolling over onto her stomach.

**Running Medical Scan...**

**Process of Regeneration will last thirty two minutes before full combat capacity is restored.**

"Oh great," She whispered, managing to pull herself up against a rock and rested her head on it. "Ow...damn, he shocked me." She peeled one eye open. "Computer, give me a PAK status."

**Running diagnostic...**

**Primary Offensive Direct Energy Weaponry: Disabled.**

**Secondary Mobility/Combat (Spider Leg) Mechanism: Operational.**

**Communication Systems: Disabled, will require full mechanical replacement.**

**Memory Blocks: All operational, no damage.**

**Tactical Analysis Scanner: Operational.**

**Medical Systems: Operating at 73 percent capacity.**

**Onboard Synthetic Adrenaline Injectors: Operational.**

**PAK/Combat Armour Connection: Operational.**

**Heads-Up-Display: Operational.**

**Summary-Irken Unit has sustained moderate damage, still combat capable to limited degree. Recommendation: abstain from large amounts of combat until regeneration completed.**

"Noted and ignored," Skullene climbed to her feet. "If I sit around then that Ray guy will finish me off while I sit here on my ass."

She checked her weapons. Her pistols were in working order, and all of her knives were accounted for. She activated her Visor, which was working again, and moved in a half crouch into the forest.

'_Recap Skullene, you're both wounded, but odds are he'll shake off that head wound in no time at all.'_ Skullene thought. '_How long was I asleep for anyways? Not more than an hour, the sun's position hasn't changed all too much._'

Time may not have been a concern for her, but the weather sure would be if the wall of grey clouds she spotted was what she believed it to be. The last thing she wanted was to be wounded _and_ wet.

Xxx

When the rain came down, it came down hard. Rivers and lakes began to overflow, swallowing up several sections of land. Ray found himself standing under a makeshift umbrella composed of branches and leaves, scanning the surrounding area with his rifle.

The battle field had just become all the more dangerous, but not from the water. Skullene was the perfect Guerrilla fighter, more so than Ray, more trained for open combat with the arsenal he had right now.

He moved into the underbrush, abandoning his hiding spot and going in search of his quarry. Staying down as low as he could, he used his armour's dark colour mixed with the growing lack of sun light to help mask his location. If Skullene was out here, in her equally ark armour, it would be hard for either of them to spot one another.

_TSEW!_

A flash of light shot by his head. On instinct, he dropped, rolling to the right and squeezed the trigger of his Micro TIAR assault rifle, firing off several rounds into the trees.

_Ttatatatat! Ttatatatat! Tatatatat!_

Branches bark, and rock exploded into splinters as he emptied most of the reaming ammunition in his clip into the general location where the laser had come from. After firing another burst in after waiting several moments, he moved towards the area he had effectively torn up.

He found that the plasma coated rounds had done their job well, effectively shredding through everything. He looked down at it.

"Perhaps these bullets are a little too powerful, with less penetrating force it would not have gone right through her and she'd be dead right now." Shrugging, he took another moment to examine the area for a body, or some more blood. He came up empty.

At that point it occurred to him that this was it, she was going to wear him down with hit and run tactics, make him waste more ammo like had had just now. He cursed, and swung his rifle around, scanning for any movement. He saw something, and fired a two round burst off before regaining control of his hand. He could not afford to waste ammo on glimpses and hunches, he was lucky that this was only his first ammunition clip and not his tenth! He had plenty more, but he would save them for when they would count.

_TSEW! TSEW! TSEWTSEWTSEW!_

She was moving, firing first from ahead of him, then from a little to the right, and then stopped to fire three quicker shots at him. He locked onto her and fired one round.

_Tat!_

_TSEW!_

The next shots hit their mark. The laser pierced through his armour on the left thigh; obviously she was using her powerful Irken Blaster instead of the Vortian Pistol. But his shot hit her, she was down!

Slowly advancing, he kept his rifle ready, locked onto the still form that lay in the middle of a puddle. Not taking any chances, he fired off a round that hit it, and it did not respond.

He sighed in relief and walked over to the corpse, hoping to salvage some usable weaponry; the arm blades would come in handy for his-

Wait, there were no weapons, there was not even an actually corpse! It was a pile of mud with a pair of twigs sticking out of it and a blue shirt laid on it so that in the darkness and with the rain impairing his vision he had confused it for the real deal! The blue shirt was the one Skullene wore over the top part of her armour's second layer as if to give it some more colour. Simple, sleeveless, and loose, and now stained from the mud.

_TSEWdowtsewdow! _They were two different sets of shots from two different guns, one the heavy blaster, one the Pocket Pistol. Ray spun as two of the shots bounced off his armour, and fired into the darkness. After the fifth shot, his rifle clicked as the magazine fed the last bullet through the firing chamber.

Cursing, he knelt as more lasers struck his position, reaching for a new magazine. He backed away, moving into the trees as he slid a fresh clip into place and fed the first round into the chamber. 'Clever, I should not have let my guard down so easily!'

He rushed through the trees as the laser fire continued to fall around him. Within seconds he left her behind, or so he guessed after that laser fire ceased. He leaped over a log, and then vaulted over a large rock, crouching with his rifle at the ready.

'She's hunting me,' He realized. 'She is herding me towards somewhere like an animal that is already caught in the hunter's hidden trap, but does not yet know it.'

Slowly the true nature of the legendary invader Skullene was becoming apparent to the Defective Elite soldier. She might look like a rude, profanity spitting banshee, but the grim reality was that she became an entirely different being on the battle field: graceful, clever, and deadly to an extent that most of the other solders from the Defective Fleet would have nightmares of trying to catch sight of her and manage to neutralize her.

But luckily Ray was not any regular soldier, he was part of the elite, he was the best, and he would not die here.

He stumbled as the ground suddenly gave away to a slope that went down several dozen feet. He slid down expertly, balanced on his feet and firing a burst back at the top when another laser shot over him. He rolled as he reached the bottom, and vaulted over a log, pressing himself flat down into the mud as he aimed his rifle under the log and at the base of the slope.

He waited there for several moments and found no sign of the ex-Invader that was stalking him through the forests of Planet Doom. For a moment he could not help but feel a twinge of fear as his own words echoed in his mind.

Whatever her plan was, she had the advantage right now ,she had him on the run, and it was working all too well for his liking. Looking over his shoulder, he spotted a cave that went into the side of a small ridge that was not too far from him. Slowly climbing to his feet, he moved towards it, sweeping the surrounding environment with the iron sights of his rifle. When he reached the cave, he knelt and scanned the area outside of the entrance, and then turned his sights on the interior of the cavern.

It was not too big, but it kept the water out of his eyes and equipment so it would do for now. Sitting down, he kept his rifle on his lap and his eyes on the mouth of the cave.

Now he had to wait for her to close the trap, and pray he managed to break free of it.

Xxx

"Oh yeah baby! She had him on the run!" Paneece cheered.

"She's making a comeback!" One of the three newcomers to Skullene's personal audience cheered, leaping on top of Hellion's head as she narrated. "And she goes at him with another laser barrage! BOOM! SPLAT! YAYZ!" The tiny pink eyed Smeet hopped up and down.

Hellion, not visibly reacting to the fact that he had become a Smeet's Stool, sipped a soda. "She'll play with him a bit, and then finish him off n the cave; nice, clean, and quick."

A shorter, purple eyed Irken in a dark brown trench coat nodded. "Yep..." He looked at the popcorn in Hellion's other hand. "Are you gonna share that?"

"Touch it and I will eat your eye balls."

"Ouch, touchy."

"POP CORN!" The hyperactive pink eyed Smeet leaped on Hellion's pop corn, making the taller Irken roar in anger.

"Hellion!" Envon shouted. "Don't you touch that chainsaw-"

_BRRRRRRR-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!_

At the computer, Paneece and a green eyed Irken her height were watching Skullene's movements.

Paneece looked at Loe. "Are your friends always as freaky as my brothers?"

As a limb hit the monitor, Loe nodded. "Meh, pretty much."

"OH DEAR MOTHER OF IRK MY LEG!" Lok wailed. "I CAN'T FEEL MY LEG! I NEEDED THAT TO DO STUFF WITH!"

Shen came into the room, shaking as he held a mug labelled 'I heart Vort' filled with coffee. He sat down next to the two Irkens, eyes twitching as he took a quick sip of the coffee. "Mmmmmmmm-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m...coffee."

Xxx

The storm did not end, but it did not get much worse, for that Ray was thankful.

"Figures the Tallest would do all they could to make our time here miserable." He grumbled, examining his rifle for any signs of damage or malfunction. Satisfied with the weapon's condition, he folded it up and placed it on his back.

Standing up, he opened his index again and went over Skullene's service records and training experience along with her full combat experience.

She had been involved in a Project Renaissance at her birth, used in it by Tallest Miyuki before he death, but supposedly had not produced any results, and so was assigned to basic Irken education by the acting Director, Eder. She had started out her career in the Irken Infantry when she was 4'6, but as she grew she was given the option of taking Invader Training. She passed with flying colours and conquered Lenire, afterwards applying for an upload of Covert Action training, which she passed like her Invader Training. Three years, four minor campaigns she assisted in, and several training uploads later she went on to make her biggest score, conquering Venira, one of the Irken Empire's greatest enemies until she neutralized it's naval power.

After conquering a third planet, Tau III, she was recalled to the Empire for a brief vacation, but before it ended she was relocated as a...Pleasure Drone? The Tallest Red himself signed the order; he made one of his greatest Invaders a Pleasure Drone! Apparently that must have been the last straw for her, because she refused the transfer and tried to assassinate the Tallest on Devastis, but was foiled by a sudden loss of power to one half of Devastis-no prizes for guessing who did that.

She was briefly imprisoned at Painomania Prison Complex as its first and only inmate, but was visited several times by Admiral Riz, who was second only to Admiral Envon, who had hounded the Defect Fleet and caused chaos for the Sentinel's forces quite a few times. Medical reports showed that she had been repeatedly..._sexually assaulted_ by the Admiral, until she reacted violently and murdered him in her cell, along with a guard who rushed in to neutralize her. She killed every single person in Painomania and escaped.

Recent history files provided by Skullene stated that she had worked as a Bounty Hunter on various planets until Admiral Envon (who seemed to pop up many times in her personal history along with the names Hellion, Grimrair, and Paneece, beginning in the Renaissance Project) offered her a chance to redeem herself in Battle Royale.

She had a history of being insolent towards Tallest Red, even going as far as to insult him in public-in Veniran no less, no wonder she got away with it, he was probably still trying to decipher what she said. Tallest Purple seemed to have a better relation with her, but by now his name might as well have been mud from her point of view.

Quite the story she had. He couldn't blame her for her hatred of the empire; she had served it loyally and provided it not one, but three successful invasions and was one of the Irkens who could be taken seriously as a credible threat on her own. And in return her leaders reduced her to a mere Pleasure Drone for officers to let their stress off on, and allowed another officer to violate her. Her reasons might not be noble, but they did give her a valid reason for wanting revenge for the pain caused to her.

Shutting the Index, he glanced outside. The rain had slowed to a drizzle outside. Perfect, now he might be able to locate her.

Assault rifle up, he slowly moved outside of the cave, scanning his surroundings-

"Yo!"

Spinning, he aimed at the source of Skullene's voice. It came from beyond several bushes.

"Aw don't be such a baby, I'm not gonna shoot you...yet!" She called to him. "I'm on break."

Break? Invaders willingly took breaks? Since when did this happen?

Curious but cautious, Ray followed her voice until he came to a small lake-or a large pond that had formed or grown during the storm. Under a makeshift shelter nearby laid combat armour and weapons. He saw her bandoleers of knives and her wrist blades, but where were the...

_Click._

"Set the rifle down," Not willing to take a risk, Ray obeyed, setting his Micro TIAR on the grass. "Now turn."

Ray slowly turned and saw her, sitting on the opposite bank of the pond. She was clad in a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt that showed off her midriff. Her legs were dipped into the pond, and her powerful Irken Blaster was held in her right hand.

"Well, I found out why this stuff doesn't burn us." She sighed, lowering it and gesturing for him to sit. "This isn't Hydrogen Dioxide, H20. It's Ammonium Hydroxide, Ammonia Water, at least this water is, I don't know about the rain. Maybe the Tallest managed to put somebody semi-competent in charge of making sure we didn't melt in the middle of a fight."

"Perhaps," Ray tried to remain as calm as he could while considering the fact that she could kill him here and now without a second thought. How had she managed to go unnoticed until now?

"Ah relax," She set her pistol down. "I want to wait until the rain is over. I just herded you into that cave so you'd leave me alone until the storm calmed a bit." She eased herself down into the ammonia water. "Ah...after weeks of being on the rainiest, dirtiest planet in the Galaxy you'd think I had it up to here with liquids. But I'll enjoy myself before this ends."

She looked at Ray, moving across the pond towards him. "So tell me soldier boy, why is an Irken as young as you in this tournament?"

"My people need my help," Ray whispered. "This is my way of contributing."

"By coming here to fight for the entertainment of your worst enemies?" Skullene asked.

"The winner-"

"I don't expect to get anything official out of this." Skullene cut him off.

"What?"

"Red and Purple will fuck the winner over, it's so obvious." Skullene explained.

"Then why did you come here?" Ray asked, confused. "If you would die, why risk coming here at all?"

Skullene sighed, and lied through her teeth. "Beats me, maybe I want to go out with a bang, just do something to fuck with their heads one last time." She smirked. "And I'll enjoy every second of it."

She climbed back out of the pond and sat under the makeshift shelter to dry off. "Do you have any friends back with the Defectives?"

"A few," Ray muttered.

"Name one for me," Skullene brought one arm up and sighed happily as she stuck one hand out into the rain, feeling the gentle drizzle of droplets.

"Uh...Lead, he's a sniper, and can be a little arrogant at times, but...he's a great friend, an awesome guy." Ray said awkwardly.

Skullene nodded. "My friends...let me list them."

"They come in three different groups," She held up one fist, and uncurled one finger. "First...my uh...siblings you could call them. Two of them act like they care more for their work and the empire, but...I love them both." She pictured Grimrair and Envon watching her. "The third is...rather odd, and very crazy, more than me, and...I love him for it." She imagined Hellion jump for joy. "And the youngest...she's impossible not to like, and she's the smartest Irken I've ever known." Paneece would be pretending not to care for the compliment.

"The next bunch...they're a bunch of..._Idiots._" She emphasized the last word. "But they all have their quirks. Their leader is funny when he isn't on the job; he's even a comedy act on two feet." Lok would pout and grumble at her for that. "The next guy is pretty whiny, but he's got that kind of cute geeky thing going, and he's one of the most trustworthy people you could call a friend." Loe would blush and turn his head down. "The last is a bundle of joy wrapped in insanity, but she's too damn cute to even think badly of." Kay would hop up and down excitedly and say that Skullene mentioned her on TV.

"The last...now he's special," Skullene, now mostly dried off began to pull her suit on, starting with the suit that fit her like a second skin. "He's not an Irken," She zipped the suit up and pulled the second layer of her outfit on: the outer clothes she wore under her armour. "He's a criminal actually," She finished pulling on her pants, boots, and jacket. "Very wanted, and if the Tallest got him, they'd make sure the entire galaxy saw his execution."

She began to clip her armour components into place. "But...I think I'm connected to him the most. At first we were business partners, trying to survive the Irken Empire and all, but I got a little more comfortable around him."

Picking up her blaster, she checked the power cell and slid it into her gun belt. "You could say...he's why I stayed out in the dankest parts of the galaxy, because that's where he would be." She collected her Vortian pistol and Push Knives. "And I look forward to seeing him again after this."

Greatly interested by the personal information, Ray nodded. "I didn't think our species could like anybody outside of our own race."

"Well it's possible kiddo." Skullene slid her wrist blade gauntlet on. "And I know it all too well..." She smiled at him. "And that's because he is a Vortian, and a Pirate who's got one big ass bounty on his horned ass."

Ray whistled. "Wow, never thought a Vortian and an Irken uh...went together after we took over their planet. Does he know about your feelings?"

"Nope, he's a little clueless."

Xxx

The entire group looked at Shen, who was currently rocking back and forth with multiple cups that had once been filled with coffee scattered around him. His eyes were twitching wildly, his teeth were chattering at a million light years a second, and he had an eerie grin on his face.

"_Coffee-Coffee-Coffee-Coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee-coffee__!" _He repeated, laughing.

The Irkens slowly turned back to the screen.

"What's wrong with the Goat?" Hellion asked.

"Vortians have a greater reaction to psychoactive stimulants," Lok whispered.

"What's that?" Kay asked, still sitting on top of Hellion's head while eating pop corn with her one good arm-the other was in the freezer at the moment due to her refusal to go to a hospital yet. Lok, who had likewise suffered damage from Hellion's rampage, was hobbling around on one leg.

"Caffeine," Loe sighed.

"Oooooohhhhhhh..." The rest of the group said in unison, nodding their heads in understanding.

"I LOVE COFFEE!" Shen leaped into the air, running around waving a cup of coffee over his head.

"...I anybody gonna stop him?"

"Nah, I actually like him this way."

"Agreed!"

"Yep."

"Awesome."

"Same here."

"Shut up! Aw man they moved onto another topic! I missed some good black mail opportunities." Kay pouted.

"Okay everybody quiet." Envon, who was missing one of his antennae, turned up the volume.

Xxx

"...and told me to open fire on Vortian civilians! They weren't even involved in the fighting!" Ray shook his head. "I ended up charging right at my commander and knocked him down. From there the rest is obvious: Defective status, leaving the empire, joining the Defective Fleet...which by the way s a hell of a lot better than the Irken Empire."

"Do tell," Skullene, sitting in front of him wrapped her arms around her knees and leaned her chin on her forearms.

"With the Defectives, you actually matter," Ray explained. "When you live, you're not a drone, you're not just a soldier or cannon fodder, people actually care for you there. And when you die, they mourn for you, they don't just cart your PAK off to be used again on some Smeet. You can choose your job, you have respect, you have friends," He paused on the last part. "You have love."

Skullene nodded. "Sounds like paradise," She sighed. "Maybe I should have accepted their offer to join."

"They approached you?" One of Ray's antennae tilted upwards as he raised one nonexistent eye brow.

"Yep, but I was apparently more interested in being a Bounty Hunter at the time," Skullene shrugged. "Oh well, my loss."

"If t means anything, I'm pretty sure you'd make a great member of the Defectives." Ray smiled.

"Thanks," Skullene looked up as the rain finally stopped. "It stopped, finally." She slowly got up. "Grab your gun."

Ray slowly got up, and backed up to where he had dropped his rifle. Picking it up, he checked it for any damage from the rain water and then glanced at Skullene.

"You're a great soldier Ray, and your reasons for being here are a lot nobler than mine," She admitted. "But I won't die here, I won't allow it." Her Visor flashed to life over her left eye. "And I won't allow any threats to my life to live."

Ray nodded in understanding. "I don't blame you, nobody wants to die here." He raised his rifle, and she snapped both of her pistols up. "So...whoever wins gives the Tallest hell?"

Skullene nodded solemnly, not speaking, she couldn't anymore after all they had talked about.

They both squeezed off several shots, lighting up the clearing. The camera drones, relaying these images to the rather bored operators immediately began to broadcast Skullene and Ray's match to the public. The truth was that after Skullene had gotten dressed what little interest left in the match had dropped a bit, so they had stuck to other fights until now.

Xxx

"Finally! They're fighting again!" Paneece exclaimed.

"KICK HIS ASS SKULLS!" Kay shrieked.

"COFFEE!" Shen, who was now in a straight jacket giggled. "-"

Envon sighed, slowly losing his patence wt hthe hyper active Vortian Pirate. "He's sealing his own caffeinated doom."

"COFFEE DOOM!"

To be continued...

Xxx

Stay tuned for part two of Battle Royale Season One Round One Part Two.


	2. Chapter 2

Battle Royale Season One Round One

Xxx

Part 2

Skullene fired her secondary pistol off twice as she stuck out from behind the rock that had become her makeshift cover. Ray, kneeling in the bushes on the other side of the clearing slid a fresh clip of ammunition into his rifle and fired off a five round burst. One round almost blew through Skullene's brain, but missed her by inches. She fired her primary Blaster off, torching some of the bushes around Ray.

The Defective soldier leaped out of the bushes, rolled as he landed, and came up firing two more quick short bursts at Skullene, shattering the weakened rock cover she was using. She covered her face as pieces of rock pelted her. Rolling backwards, she came up on her feet and fired her Vortian Pistol twice before spinning into cover behind a tree and coming out with a charge blast from her Irken Blaster that blew a small crater n the ground next to Ray, who used the momentum he gained from the explosion's shockwave to leap to the side, firing single shots at Skullene's position.

For several moments the gun fire ceased, both Irkens remained hidden from sight and silent, guns at the ready. Skullene vented the heat from her Vortian pistol and holstered it in favour of her larger Blaster. "Are you still alive kid?"

"This 'kid' has been giving you a lot of grief as of late!" Ray called back to her; momentarily removing his current magazine to check how much was left within it before setting it back into place in the Micro TIAR.

"Touché," Skullene replied. "I'm guessing you brought plenty of ammo for that rifle there!"

"You'd be correct!" Ray began to creep through the bushes, moving away from the clearing so he could circle around to find her.

"Not enough to weigh you down though, I'd guess enough to last you a few fire fights of heavy combat!" Skullene was moving also-but where was she?

Ray, not wishing to give away his position, stopped where he was, on one knee while his right arm was propped up on his other knee to steady the rifle's aim. He activated the Hacker Module again, and it began to seek out any nearby devices.

"DOMNIA! PITARAE CARAGASH!" (Dome-knee-uh Koo-oy! Pete-ray Car-uh-gush!) (Damn! Piece of crap)

There she was! Ray rose to his feet and fired a quick burst in Skullene's general direction to flush her out. He rushed forward, hopped over a log, and fired again. Something was moving, something-there! Adjusting his aim slightly to the left, he followed Skullene as she broke cover, her visor deactivated after he had hacked it yet again.

Just as he fired, she had rushed behind another one of those damn trees! The bullets went deep into the tree and began to weaken it from inside, but it would hold, it was thick and strong.

Ray began to circle the tree to the right. Not wasting time, he leaped into firing range and fired a single shot at Skullene...who was not even there. Lowering his rifle, he looked around. "What the hell? Where did she-"

THUD!

A boot slammed into his face, right between the eyes, and knocked him to the ground. Skullene rolled as she landed, and quickly shot her foot out, knocking away Ray's rifle. Her wrist blades were still extended from when she had used them to climb the tree so that she could make her surprise attack on Ray, who had been caught off guard. She reared her right arm back and plunged the dual blades down towards him, but he caught her wrist and jammed the heel of his free hand into her chin, knocking her head back and allowing him to roll back, bringing his left knee up and into her head.

Rolling away from the dazed Skullene, he drew his Kukri knife and lunged. Predicting the outcome of being hit by the electrically charged blade, Skullene twisted out of the way of his first jab and slammed her right elbow into the side of his head. Unfortunately, she had not hit the side with the scar on it. Ray had taken care to seal the wound with some medical foam rather than cauterize it the way she did her wounds. The blow still sent him reeling, but he recovered, spun, and within a blink of being hit by Skullene's elbow, cracked her across the jaw with his own.

She fell, but managed to roll out of the way as his blade sank into the ground where she had been. She swung the heel of her left foot into the back of his right knee, knocking him off balance. She flipped over onto her back and kicked him in the side next, knocking him to the ground entirely. Scrambling to her feet, she withdrew one Push knife from its sheath and lunged at him, aiming for the wound in the side of his head. With luck, she could get through the medical foam and sink her blade into his brain, end it quick and painlessly.

But it was not to be, as she plunged her blade down towards the wound, Ray jumped into action, her blade striking the side of his Kukri knife. As energy surged through the kukri knife, Skullene watched as the Push Knife was literally melted before her very eyes! She pulled back before the entre thing could melt and leave her holding the leather T shape handle. It was all but useless except for one purpose that she took advantage of the moment Ray tried to go for another attack.

She tossed it in his face, letting the half melted metal singe his flesh. He shouted and tore it off, tossing it aside and leaving burned and blistering skin on his forehead. He snarled and swung again, but Skullene spun into his guard, caught his fore arm in her right hand, and slammed her left elbow into his gut, and then twisted her arm up so her knuckles slammed him in the face. Before she could get free, he had her in his grasp and tossed her face first into the tree next to them. Slamming the side of her head off of the bark, she collapsed with some scraped, bloody flesh.

Her daze lasted long enough for Ray to swing at her again. She swung her legs apart, managing to push his right foot enough to make him pause to regain his balance. She used this chance to kick him in the gut and then climb to her feet as he recovered.

Beginning with a jab, she tested his defences, and immediately jumped back to avoid having her stomach cut open by the blade. She tried a reverse round house kick next, but he had predicted that she would favour using kicks and ducked under it. Knowing never to take too long to go through ha kick, Skullene was back n her fighting stance as he swung at her, and she placed her right hand against his knife wrist and pushed it aside so she could slam an upper cut into his jaw.

His head snapped upwards, but when it came back down he slammed into her face. She took two steps back, clutching her face and pretending that the pain was interfering with her fighting capacity, but lashed out with her wrist blades when Ray came in to finish her off. She cut a shallow wound into his left thigh, not nearly enough to neutralize him but made him bleed a bit instead.

When his Kukri collided with the Beta-Phase Titanium blades and they did not melt, he withdrew from the Close Quarters fight. "That must be some strong metal with some strong heat resistance to handle my blade on full charge."

"Grade 38, Beta-Phase Titanium, some more primitive cultures can only use it for the armour on their vehicles, but this variant s rather handy due to a decreased weight, allowing it to be carried more easily." She explained. "But fashion it into a blade, and you've got one powerful weapon not likely to break or melt as easily as a steel blade."

"Impressive, know where I could get one? I'm sure that the folks back home wouldn't mind having one." Ray passed his knife between his hands and then struck with it in a reverse grip in his left hand. Skullene swung her wrist blade up and beat the attack aside, twisted under his right arm as he tried to slam a wild hay maker punch into her face, and, and swung, leaving him with a rather jagged and very noticeable set of tears in his armour.

As they began to circle one another, blades bared like the fangs of a beast, Skullene replied. "It was made for me by a weapon's smith on Venira, before its downfall."

Another exchange of blades, sparks flying as they spun and ducked into and out of reach of their opponent, attacking and retaliating. They separated, and then lunged. Ray was left with a set of shallow cut on his jaw while Skullene's armour was partially melted in a straight, thin line on her left forearm. They pushed away from one another again, but were ready to pounce on their target at a moment's notice.

"Ah, so there is no chance of him offering his services to our cause then?" Ray asked.

"Not likely, but I heard he survived, even makes guns also now." Skullene darted forward and blocked a downwards swing, but before she could even begin her attack he brought his right leg up and hit her in the chest with a snap kick. She fell on her back, winded and a little pissed at the same time.

"Such a shame," Ray knew better than to try and attack her while she was on her back and fully able to counterattack. If it hadn't worked multiple times before it would not work this time around either, he had to wear her down until she had little strength left to respond with.

That would be one hell of a job; she had a stubborn streak the size of the Massive.

They continued to exchange blows, slowly cutting into one another with every passing second. Sometimes a punch or a kick would be used, but this was definitely a blade fight, and neither one of them was giving ground. Ray had one small advantage, he could use either hand and could usually swing with a better chance of hitting, but Skullene's armour had managed to seal the breach he had made when he stabbed her the first time. If he managed to hit her on the torso, usually she moved away before he could cut under the military type jacket and the body suit underneath that dissipated any of the electric charges he had.

He needed to stab her again, and then kill her while she was down, a quick merciful death in her sleep. But how could he get close enough to make a direct and lethal stab when she moved faster than the Legendary Shen Baron when he was drinking that odd dark liquid he had been seen drinking in public-which was now in images of current Wanted Posters. Honestly the Vortian's change in attitude scared even the Defect Fleet into keeping their distance from him or his own organization of Rebels.

Damn it, getting off topic, she almost stabbed him while he got lost in his thoughts! Back fisting her across the face, he followed up with an upper cut to her solar plexus.

Doubled over, Skullene growled and rammed her left fist into his jaw in an upper cut, but he grabbed her wrist before she could pull back. He had moved with her blow, jumping up a bit so that the effect of it was lessened. He twisted her arm behind her back and reached around with his knife to cut her throat open. He tried to angle it to cut her flesh, but she slammed her head into his face and wrestled her arm free. Spinning, her right elbow jammed into the side of his jaw and knocked him to the side. She followed up with another reverse round house kick that threw him to the ground.

Ray looked up, trying to wipe some of his own blood from his right eye as Skullene jabbed her wrist blades down at him with a battle cry. Twisting, he rolled closer to her and went under the blades. He ended up throwing her feet out from under her. He was on his feet and leaped at her, roaring as he brought his own blade down on her. She managed to throw one arm up and made his blade cut across her right upper arm's armour. She slammed her right elbow into his side and shoved him off of her.

"You'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to kill me, soldier boy." Skullene spat, leaping to her feet.

"I might have a few promising ideas," Ray rolled his shoulders as they circled one another. "I can't promise they'll all be too quick and painless though."

But for whatever plans he had mad, Skullene had already begun to make a one of her own. She couldn't risk any more weapons against that Kukri, and the Wrist Blades were better for stabbing rather than slashing and exchanging blows with another blade repeatedly so she needed a new tactic.

And what was it you might ask?

Hauling ass and getting the hell out of there!

Catching Ray off guard, she twisted to her left and snapped her left leg up to head level, kicking him in the throat and knocking him back as he wheezed and gasped. She took her chance.

She rushed away from Ray, firing her Vortian pistol over her shoulder as she went. Ray knelt, his throat having recovered minus a sore feeling it had and coolly drew his plasma pistol, locked on, and fired. The shot struck her in the shoulder, nearly blowing off the armour component covering it and scorching her skin through her combat suit. She stumbled and fell, but three of her shots found their mark. They struck Ray in the chest armour and knocked him back. Skullene, capitalizing on her successful hits withdrew her Irken blaster and fired at him again and again, managing to hit him seven times within the next three seconds. One shot shattered a hole in his armour and sizzled through his clothes and skin.

Hissing in pain, he fired blindly, and hit Skullene in one of her antennae...and left it hanging by mere strands. They were both in great amounts of pain, but their wounds would eventually heal, provided they survived long enough to see that. Shakily, they stepped away from each other to recover.

Ray watched as Skullene vanished into the foliage to nurse her wounds. He found that he could not breathe as much, and discovered that the cause was his chest armour; it was beginning to fuse to his flesh! Desperate, he began to unclip it and finally tore it off of him with only a few loose strands of flesh and cloth hanging on it, and tossed it aside.

"DAMN IT!" He was exposed to any laser fire now, but so was Skullene, and they were both wounded.

He spotted his rifle, discarded at the beginning of the fist/knife fight that Skullene had drawn him into. He scooped it up, and moved out, now a lot lighter thanks to the lack of the armour's weight. He would at least have a better chance of catching up to her now.

But one thing bothered him...why was it so much colder here than it had been back near the pond?

Xxx

Skullene stumbled over a root, and cursed. Extending one Spider leg, he used it to support her as she climbed back to her feet. Retracting the mechanical limb, she looked over her shoulder, gripping her Blaster tightly in one hand. "Damn, that didn't go as planned." She was one knife short now and very wounded, she'd need a lot longer to heal.

But first she had to-

What the, why was she tipping over?

"AH!-!-!-!-!-!-!"

She ended up sliding down a very steep slope that was covered in some sort of white material that crunched under her as she rolled down. She finally hit the bottom of the slope. Shivering, she got up and glanced at the slope that went back up to a line of trees. Looking over her shoulder, she found herself in a snow covered region with mountains capped with white snow.

"Wh-wh-what the florp?" she stuttered. "Am I in a different region?"

"...OOOORRRRPPPP!-!-!-!-" Moments later another figure rolled down and landed next to where she had landed. Ray groaned as he slowly began to get up...and Skullene took that as her signal to run away so fast that she left a cloud of smoke shaped like her that slowly dissipated before Ray's eyes.

"...I had no idea that even an Irken could run so fast."

Xxx

Okay, step one; make sure your antenna can heal before it falls off. Step two, find a secure position. Step three...Kill Ray.

That was easier said than done. She could hardly focus on making a plan; much less execute it while she was freezing her face off in this damn cold! She tapped the control panel on her left gauntlet, and her suit began to insulate her body against the cold, adjusting to the temperature. She sighed, hugging herself as the suit warmed her up. She then sat down under the low cliff that overlooked her position, and pulled out her Medical Kit from her PAK. She began to apply gauze to her damaged antenna, and quickly injected the area with Medical Foam that would increase the rate of her regeneration and help keep the antenna in position while the antenna slowly knitted itself back together.

'Alright Skull, you're good to go.' She exhaled. 'Now get up and-.' Her Visor blurred out, but she had turned off the built in radio this time, so it did not momentarily impair her movements.

He pulse raced, and she spotted some movement coming from the ice covered rocks. She leapt out from under the cliff as Ray fired two four round bursts in her direction. Running across the snowy ground, Skullene rolled and brought up her Vortian pistol. Firing from a crouched position, she squeezed off tree shots of her own.

Ray cursed as two flew by where his head had been a moment before he had changed position. "I'm wagering that you didn't come into this territory too prepared, Skullene!"

Her pistol locked onto his position, she replied. "You're one to talk! We both stick out like sore thumbs here with our armour on!"

"Well, if you'd like to strip down and find another lake to swim in again, I won't mind!" Ray called to her, peeking out from cover. "At negative twenty seven I'd guess you'd be frozen long before I have to kill you-"

DOW! A blue laser shot by and singed the side of his head. "Damn!"

"You wouldn't be the first one to make that offer!" Skullene laughed. "But I'll have to decline!"

"Gold plated little..." Ray grumbled, and then remembered his original goal: keep her talking. "Uh...so tell me," He ejected the near empty clip from his rifle, setting it on a smaller rock. "Project uh...Renaissance, what was all of that about?"

Skullene flinched. "What does it matter to you?"

"Well I like to get to know people, especially ones who managed to do this much damage to me in so little time!" Ray cracked a smile. "Plus I'd do anything to learn a few Armada secrets!" He slowly slid an ammunition clip into his rifle.

"..." Skullene, who had wedged herself into a gap in the nearby cliff face, sighed. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Aw hit me with it!" Ray smiled humourlessly as he chambered a round and then peeked from cover, but three panicked shots from Skullene made him duck.

Her Vortian pistol suddenly let out a 'beep'. The slide jammed back, and a small stream of gathered heat energy was released from it. The two Irkens remained as sturdy and silent as statues as the Vortian Pistol vented the amassed heat.

"It was directed by Tallest Miyuki-"

"I knew that much, but what was the focus behind it?" Ray cut her off. "What did they need Smeets as test subjects for? I know Miyuki wasn't cold blooded like Red and Purple!"

"It wasn't a test on the _Smeets,_" Skullene slid down into a sitting position, holding up her Vortian pistol to see as it finished venting the excess heat and the slide snapped shut. The gun whirred as the energy cell within was allowed to continue powering the weapon. "But we were part of the project."

"Okay, so they didn't, do anything to _you_ or the Smeets,_" _Ray slowly advanced, pressing himself up against the cliff wall, rifle aimed at the mouth of the crevice. "Then what was the Renaissance Project focused ON?" He shouted the last word as he fired three rounds into the crevice, but Skullene was gone.

"The test subject was Tallest Miyuki herself!" Skullene's voice came from ten feet above, over the edge of the cliff.

"Miyuki used herself as an experiment?" Ray looked for a way to climb the cliff.

"In a manner of speaking!" Skullene fired two shots from her perch on the cliff. One shot spun Ray around, and the second laser hit the armour attached to his left arm and blew the battered plates off entirely.

Ray rolled and fired from the hip, blowing chunks out of the cliff with each shot. One moment he was there, the next he was back in the Elite, with civilian Vortians, women and children staring down at him in fright. The next moment he was back with his fellow Defects, firing on a squadron of Irken soldiers. When his gun ran dry, he was back in the present time.

Sliding a fresh clip in, he secured the rifle to his back and grasped the pistol on his hip. He searched for his target. He had to keep his temper in check; he couldn't let Skullene see that she was getting to him. "Okay then, so what did she do anyways?" He fired three times at the cliff edge, and then did a 360 degree turn, firing once to the west, south, and east before his pistol's sights rested on the now partially melted rock face.

"She..." Skullene hesitated, and Ray fired once in her direction.

"She..." Skullene had moved, and Ray adjusted his fire to follow her.

"Go ahead, I bet it's about as bad as what any other of our 'Almighty' Tallests has done as a crime against nature!" Ray taunted her. "Will it really hurt her reputation all that much? After all, she's dead-"

"SHE MADE US!" With a roar, Skullene came out of the slowly thickening curtain of falling snow and slammed into him, angling her shoulder so that her remaining shoulder armour hit him in the torso. He spat out some blood as he was sent flying off his feet, his gun firing twice.

"She gave herself the POWER-" She kicked him in the side. "To MAKE-" She stomped her heel down onto his gun hand's wrist. "US!" She grasped him by the head and hauled him up.

Stunned, Ray was powerless to stop her from pounding and biting his face.

"SHE!" THUD! "WAS!" CRACK! "MY!" RIP! "MOTHER!" She head butted him and tossed him into the air.

Ray landed at the edge of another cliff. The blizzard cleared to show that there was a hundred feet between him and a lake below. Groaning, he got up. One of his eyes were swollen shut as he stared at the enraged Irken woman above him. At that moment the pieces fit into place as he stared at Skullene: her blue eyes, her build, that snarling face that looked similar to the serene smile that was shown in images of Tallest Miyuki.

The rogue Irken picked up his plasma pistol and examined it. She unleashed her Spider Legs and raised herself up on them, tossing the pistol over the cliff side. "She made me, she gave birth to me, she got what was rightfully hers, the throne of the empire." She hissed. "_And now I'm going to take what's rightfully mine: Revenge."_ She lunged for him. "On the bastards who ruined MY LIFE!"

She slammed into him as he extended his PAK legs. They both shot off of the cliff, and began their descent towards the river below. Ray cut Skullene's arm with one spider leg, and kicked her off. Angling himself so he would land right side up, Ray managed to land on the edge of the lake using his spider legs. Skullene fell into the river, sending water flying up.

Several droplets hit Ray, and his flesh sizzled. He clenched his teeth and groaned in pain. Retracting his spider legs, he collapsed to his knees. "Finally...finally," He struggled to his feet. 'She was Miyuki's daughter...but how is that possible?'

He shakily brought his rifle up and unfolded it. He kept his aim on the surface of the lake, watching for disturbances.

Skullene suddenly leaped out of the water, sending up a spray of the Liquid Death in her wild fit of rage. She locked her gaze on Ray, and even as her skin began to dissolve he knew that she would spill his guts out with her bare hands if she got near him. She lunged, and his rifle came up.

_TAT!_

The bullet struck and buried itself into Skullene's arm as she came up. She screeched as her flesh began to melt as the water ate away at it.

Ray fired two more times, the bullets ripping through her. She collapsed into the water, growling and feebly trying to claw her way to the shore. Their eyes met...and then Skullene vanished under the water.

A full minute passed, and there wasn't any sight of the rogue Irken who had very nearly killed Ray.

Trying not to collapse from exhaustion, Ray turned and left the lake behind.

Xxx

"She's dead! Skully's dead!" Paneece wailed.

"No...No!" Envon whispered, face pressed up against the screen. "Not like that, she wouldn't die like that!"

Shen, who was over his coffee induced craziness, shoved Envon aside. "Skullene! No! Nononono!" He shook his head, tearing his goggles off and stared at the image of Ray shooting Skullene. His blood shot eyes were filled with tears as he smashed one screen with his fist. "YOU STUPID IRKEN!" He ripped the screen out of the wall. "YOU STUPID IRKEN! WHY DID YOU ENTER IT? WHY DD YOU HAVE TO GO THERE?" He began to stomp on the monitor. "YOU PROMISED YOU'D COME BACK ALIVE! YOU SAID YOU'D WIN! YOU FUCKING LITTLE LIAR!" He began to smash one of the walls in during his fit of rage.

Lok, Loe, and Kay comforted Paneece in her sorrow while Envon fell to his knees, whispering Skullene's name and begging her for forgiveness.

Hellion however stared at one of the undamaged screens that showed the lake. "No...She is not dead...my angle would not allow such an unworthy cretin to dispatch her."

"DON'T YOU GET IT HELLION!" Envon suddenly roared and grabbed his younger brother by the collar of his shirt. "SHE IS DEAD! DEAD!" He began to tear up, his voice choking. "_Dead."_ He collapsed. "My little sister's dead and it's all my fault! I got her to enter the tournament!"

Hellion shook his head. "You're wrong Envon, she is alive." He smirked. "My angel of death just has to spread her wings."

Paneece, unable to acknowledge Hellion, screamed at Ray's image. "MURDERER!"

Xxx

He spotted a small glint of light, and upon walking towards it found his pistol lying in a snow bank. Scooping up the weapon, Ray examined it for any signs of damage before he holstered it. He sat down on a rock and ran a medical scan. He would need an entire day before he would be on his feet.

Looking back at the lake, Ray closed his eyes. "You sure left your mark Skullene, I'm sorry it had to end like that." He ran one hand over his face, bringing it away stained with blood. "Maybe in another universe, we could have been comrades, friends even."

He was so caught up in his apology that he did notice a second set of tracks leading away from the lake. He stood up. "You were a valiant fighter...and your mother will be happy to see you again." He looked down. "Maybe I'll be there before this tournament is over."

"Touching," Ray blinked and looked up in time to receive a punch to the side of his much abused face.

He was knocked on his back, and came upon an almost terrifying sight.

She stood over him, her skin beginning to slowly regenerate over muscle. Her jaw was skinless, and her eye sockets were exposed. Her clothing and armour were still intact, along with her weapons, but she looked like a corpse on a week old battle field that had suddenly gotten on its feet.

"Did you miss me?" Skullene hissed.

"You-you're alive?" Ray leaped up to his feet. "But how? You should be dead! You LOOK dead!"

"About I sure as hell don't feel dead," Skullene spat. "I am in SO MUCH PAIN BECAUSE OF YOU!"

She took one step forward. "No more running, no more holding back! YOU DIE NOW!"

With that, she was on him. She knocked him to the ground and brought up one of her push knives. Flicking it open, she jammed it down, aiming at his chest. Ray pushed her arm aside and jammed both feet into her chest. She fell back, shrieking in pure outrage and agony.

Slipping his Kukri knife free, Ray swung at her once, but then she stomped on his knife hand once, and kicked him in the face with her other foot. He groaned in pain, and then shrieked as she jammed her knife into his wrist! She sent t all the way through his arm and then tore it out along with many of his muscles. She jammed one elbow into his face as he tried to struggle, and then she tore his Kukri knife from his grasp.

Xxx

"Told you so!" Hellion shouted as the group broke into cheers for Skullene.

They watched as their favoured competitor began to pummel Ray mercilessly. Ray responded with his own vicious attacks, but Skullene wouldn't go down.

"KICK HIS ASS! RIP HIS EYES OUT!" Paneece yelled.

"DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT AGAIN! DON'T YOU_ EVER_ MAKE ME THINK YOU DIED, DO YOU HEAR ME?" Shen shook one of the few unharmed screens he had not yet stomped to pieces as Skullene delivered a fierce hook to Ray's face. He may have sounded mad, but truth be he was thanking his gods that Skullene was still alive, and tears of happiness were pouring down his face.

"Woo! Yay for Skully!" Kay whistled as she stood on Hellion's head, tugging on his good antenna-he was too distracted to be made about it.

"Look!" Paneece pointed as Skullene ducked under a punch, knocked Ray down, and brought down his own Kukri on him. She activated the charge on it as soon as it entered his shoulder.

"SHE WON!" They all shouted in unison.

Xxx

When he awoke, Ray stared up at the sky with his one good eye-his other one was swollen shut by now. Slowly, his eyes went to the bloody wound in his torso. It was squirting blood, but he knew that t would heal before he lost too much. The next second, the barrel of his own Micro TIAR assault rifle was pointed in his face.

"Pretend you're dying," Skullene whispered harshly.

"Wh-wha-?"

"Pretend you're dying you foolish child or we'll both have to actually fight to the death!"

"But what about the camera-"

"After I tazed you with your own knife, the camera drones caught a powerful gust of wind." Skullene explained. "I'm not going to kill you Ray, I can't kill you like this, but if we don't act now I will have to kill you or risk being exposed. You have to be dead and everybody-even the audience has to think so."

"...you know...if I know Lead, he's the guy who had a lock on you." Ray informed her, gesturing with his eyes to the red dot of light on her stomach.

"I was wondering about that," Skullene sighed. "Will he shoot me? I won't have you around to prove that we're faking this."

"Don't worry about it, I'll get him to stand down," Ray assured her. "And I won't need that rifle for what I'll be doing after this, just keep it."

"Thanks," Skullene nodded. "You just have to trail a few miles behind me, out of sight of the cameras. You're a tracker, right?"

"I managed to track you across this tundra-"

"They're coming! Get ready to put on a show!" Skullene flicked the safety on the rifle off.

Ray spotted the two camera drones trailing them, and prayed that his acting skills had not become rusty. He placed one hand on the wound and began to breathe heavily as they came into range through the thickening veil of white snow that was forming. They circled the fight.

"Well lookie fucking here!" Skullene snarled, putting on an act for them. "Guess you get one last shout out to the folks back home...how about to your pal, what was his name...Lead?" She laughed harshly, and then kicked Ray in his side. "If I know your kind, he'll be after me after I _win_ this tournament. Any parting words for your _old friend_? You know, a little something for me to pass on." She aimed the rifle in his face again. "Make it quick, soldier boy."

"Hey... Know what? Tell him, if he comes after you, tell him this. In the end, it's a fate that we can barely get out of. My scar is an example of that at your safety; don't let it go to waste..." Ray closed his eyes. "So go on then, I'm ready."

_Click._

The audio recorder built into her armour's sensors stored the message and deactivated at Skullene's command.

"Alright...I'm ready for it; give me your best shot." Ray shut his eyes.

Skullene's eyes softened and she folded up the rifle and placed it on her back, attaching it to a magnetic strip she had once used for holding larger weapons...in favour of his Kukri knife! With a roar, she brought it up and jammed it down...into a nonlethal area of his torso near his Squeedlyspooch, and activated the charge on it.

Ray shrieked as electricity coursed through out his whole body. His PAK went into emergency shutdown, and soon he would follow it. It was just like when he had managed to stab her earlier in the fight. The knife hadn't been at a full charge, so instead of frying her circuits it left her unconscious for several minutes after sending her PAK into an emergency shutdown.

That was her plan!

Skullene deactivated the Kukri knife, and stood up. Ray twitched several more times, and then he went limp. His body would show no life signs until the Emergency Lockdown was lifted, which would be after the drones were long gone.

Skullene, shaking from both the cold and from a mix of anger and misery slowly reached into her PAK. She pretended that she was calm from her fake rage attack. "You fought well," She pulled out a thermal blanket and draped it over him. "You at least deserve a burial."

She dug out a small grave for him and placed his body in it along with his pistol and knife. She kept the assault rifle and spare ammunition for herself. The grave was shallow so that when Ray awoke within several minutes, safely cocooned, he would be able to dig his way out rather easily while the cameras focused on Skullene, who would be heading west as fast as she could for the city region.

Luckily, her armour prevented any frost from forming, and the water on her skin had evaporated while reacting with her flesh. She would not likely freeze to death at the moment, but there was always a slim chance of it happening even to her.

She examined the Micro TIAR, checking the clip inside of it. It seemed rather simple to handle, like a more advanced version of a Veniran infantry weapon that relied on brute force to pierce shields and armour instead of the plasma coating the Micro TIAR's standard ammunition possessed, and splintering bullets to spread the damage instead of. The TIAR would be vital to her in prolonged combat. He had about fifteen spare magazines left over from the fight, which took up three of her PAK's five empty storage units in total.

She knelt before the grave and bowed her head in respect. She could feel the sights of the sniper rifle on her, and could practically taste the rage coming from the Irken named Lead. Her fate was in his hands now, but perhaps...

She tapped her right gauntlet's control interface, broadcasting a short range transmission.

Xxx

"SHE KILLED HIM!"

"RAY!"

"COLD BLOODED KILLER!"

Lead could hear every word through his radio as he sighted in on the bitch who had just taken the life of his best friend. The Defective Stealth Ship in orbit had also seen every moment as Skullene butchered and then murdered Ray while he was wounded. His hands shook with anger as he chambered the first round into the sniper rifle in his hands and set his sights on the back of Skullene's head, an execution style.

Every Irken on the ship was demanding and begging for Lead to do it, while some of the cooler heads advised him not to blow his cover. He snarled into his radio without looking away. "All of you shut up! She deserves this and she isn't going to-"

_KKKKRRRRR!_

_" In the end, it's a fate that we can barely get out of. My scar is an example of that at your safety; don't let it go to waste..."_ It was Ray's voice! _"So go on then, I'm ready."_

Lead swallowed. The crew of the Stealth Ship had fallen silent as they heard Ray's final words for the second time. The message kept repeating.

"Lead," The Commanding Officer of the Stealth Ship _Endeavour_ whispered through the link. "Lead, let it go soldier, just...let it go. You're no assassin, you're a soldier. He fought that battle...and he lost it."

"But-but I-" Lead sobbed, dropping his rifle into the snow and falling to his knees. "He was my friend."

"I know Lead," The Officer, an Irken named Lor replied. "But you have to let it go. What happened...was a battle that ended with Skullene as the victor. Would Lead want you to react to it with cold blooded murder?"

"No...He...He deserves better than that," Lead sniffed, collecting his rifle and disassembling it. "I...what should I do now sir?"

"Make for Extraction Point E; it's the closest to your position." Lor, retaking his persona as Lead's Commander and superior by rank replied. "We'll deploy a team to retrieve the body later."

"Yes sir...I'll meet the Extraction Team in an hour." Lead glanced one last time in Skullene's direction. "...even if I didn't...there are a lot of people in this tournament who aren't nearly as merciful as I am." He lowered the visor on his helmet, and made for Extraction Point E alongside the two snipers accompanying him.

Xxx

Skullene looked up, and her Visor's visual scanner confirmed that the weapon signature of Lead's sniper rifle was no longer there. She sighed in relief and stood up. The camera drones, floating above the victorious bounty hunter and at an angle and distance that had not allowed them to see the red dot of light from Lead's sniper rifle moved in and floated around Skullene in circles.

Audience members praised or jeered at her from where ever they watched the competition from all over the galaxy.

Gamblers exchanged winnings, and immediately set new ones for how long Skullene would survive or if she would win the tournament.

One camera drone snapped a shot of her and transmitted it to the Battle Royale Channel.

It showed her, half of her face melted off and healing, clad in battle armour and carrying her opponent's rifle as she turned and walked away from the grave.

"CONGRATULATIONS SKULLENE!" One drone all but deafened her as it cut her off. "SKULLENE WINS! RAY LOSES! LADIES, GENTLEMEN AND ANYTHING ELSE INBETWEEN WE HAVE A WINNER OF ROUND ONE OF BATTLE ROYALE!" It flew around her at lightning speed and then stopped and projected the image of an Irken who stood at a proud 6'0. He had red eyes and wore fancy clothing.

"Congratulations Skullene! Do you have anything to say to the people of the galaxy?" The Interviewer asked.

"..." She glared at him.

"You've made a pretty big impression today Skullene. And killing a Defective? WOW! Come on, let's hear something for the smeets back home!" A microphone extended.

Skullene's eyes narrowed. "Ok, here's something." She grabbed the Microphone, and anybody watching her on TV went silent as they waited for her to speak.

She said ten simple words.

"And you all wonder why the galaxy hates us Irkens." She then shoved the Microphone back at the drone and spat on it. She then blasted it with a single round from Ray's assault rifle and continued on as the other Drone took over.

"AND THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS! SKULLENE THINKS YOU ALL SUCK! BETTER HOPE SHE BITES IT IN THE NEXT ROUND!"

_TAT!_

The second drone went down, and more were deployed to follow her...at a safe distance of course.

It would be a long walk to the city.

She only hoped that Ray would recover from the shock she had given him.

Xxx

Under the thin surface of snow and wrapped in the blanket, Ray's body was protected from the snow. His wounds had stopped bleeding for the most part, but there was no sign of life returning to the Irken's body.

His PAK came to life though. It ran a self diagnostic and then attempted to reactivate Ray's body. After receiving no response, the PAK's automated Emergency Medical systems kicked in.

_**Alert, Irken Ray failure to resuscitate, initiate secondary restoration function.**_

The PAK applied a shock to Ray's body, acting as a Defibrillator.

_**Charging...discharge.**_

Ray's body was shocked, and his back arched as his__eyes snapped open and he gasped. He began to writhe and tear at the blanket.

_**Resuscitation successful, stabilizing...**_

Ray clawed his way free, moving like a wild animal until one hand broke through to the surface.

_**Stabilizing...running scan...warning: Irken Ray has received critical damage to all primary functions. Chances of survival...43 percent.**_

Ray curled up on his side as he dug his way free. Coughing out blood, he reached into his PAK and grabbed a syringe. Rolling onto his back, he tugged at the collar of his suit until his neck was exposed. Pulling the cap off of the syringe, he jammed it into his flesh and injected the serum into a vein.

_**Epinephrine introduced to system. Calculating survival rate...46.63 percent.**_

Ray grabbed a second syringe and tore one gauntlet off. He jammed it into his wrist and pressed down on the plunger.

_**Artificial Cellular Regeneration Booster (ACRB, Formula 67) introduced to system. Calculating survival rate...52.55 percent.**_

Ray sat up, dry heaving as he grabbed a medical kit from his PAK and tried to seal the various wounds he had taken. He took a deep breath and tore his Kukri knife out of his abdomen. He quickly began to apply medical gauze to it as the ACRB 67 began to increase the regeneration rate of his tissue. The bleeding decreased, but Ray was left lying in the snow until his PAK made an announcement that almost caused him to cry.

**Medical Stabilization achieved, Irken Ray is 67.43 percent combat capable.**

Ray would take several minute to remember that he was badly wounded and in the middle of a frozen tundra.

Catching up to Skullene would be nothing compared to trying to survive the snow, but now he was all the deadlier towards the Irken Empire.

He was a ghost, he was dead.

And he would cash in on that little perk the first chance he had to do some damage.

Xxx

End of Round One

Originally I planned for Skullene to spill out Ray's guts and then put a mercy shot between the eyes, but I like Ray too much to do that. He just sounded like he needed n ending that showed him more respect.


End file.
